Kansas City police officer pleads guilty to harassment, assault

A Kansas City, Missouri, police pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of harassment and assault and resigned from the department.

Jason Moran also agreed to surrender his police officer certification and not to contact victims in the case, according to a news release from the Jackson County Prosecutor's office.

Both charges were misdemeanors.

The incident started when the victims were in a car behind Moran's Ford F-150 pickup truck on State Line Road near East 135th Street in KCMO, according to court documents.

The driver of the car told police Moran was driving about 10 MPH.

The two vehicles stopped at a traffic light, but when the light turned green, Moran remained stopped at the intersection.

The driver of the car told officers he flashed his lights at Moran, but Moran did not move his truck

He drove around Moran and when the driver and Moran got to the next stop light, Moran pulled his pickup truck next to the driver's car, rolled down his window and said, 'I hope you guys are having a nice night,' and laughed, according to the court document.

Moran followed the car, which parked in front of an apartment.

The driver of the car got a baseball bat from the car and went confront Moran, the court document states.

Moran drove forward and hit the man in the side with his truck.

The driver hit Moran's truck with the baseball bat after Moran drove around the apartment parking lot and came back to where the driver and others were.

Moran pointed a black handgun, which was later found not to contain bullets, at the man and the two exchanged words.

Two people told police Moran smelled like alcohol and his eyes were red.

Officers from the police department's DUI section came to the scene and conducted a Standard Field Sobriety Test on Moran.

He was arrested for DUI.

There was not sufficient evidence to charge Moran with drunk driving because a delay in the investigation left prosecutors without sufficient evidence to charge, according to the news release.

Moran worked for the police department for just over 22 years. A department spokesperson said Moran's last assignment was in the patrol bureau.

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